At 227 pages, Grace is a fairly quick read, but it contains lots of great information about God’s wonderful gift of grace.  The most important concept of the entire book is that grace is a gift, not a paycheck.  Grace, unlike a paycheck, is not earned through works; instead, it is given to us at no personal expense.

Paul’s Letter to the Romans contains some good passages about grace:

Romans 3:21-24

²¹But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. ²²This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, ²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Romans 6:22-23

²²But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. ²³For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Another thing that jumped out at me in this books are two acronyms: PRIDE and GRACE.  PRIDE stands for People Relying In Doing Enough, while GRACE stands for God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.  These are excellent, easy to remember reminders of how grace is a gift and not a paycheck.

If you’re just starting your walk with Christ, or if you’re thinking about becoming a Christian, I highly recommend you read this book, as it does a superb job discussing a topic at the foundation of the Christian faith.

Upon entering the store, the first display I saw was for Michael Gates Gill’s How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else.  For some reason, the book really caught my attention; thinking back, I’m not entirely sure why, but I’m guessing it was a combination of the title and the display.  I picked up a copy, skimmed the back cover and decided this was the book for me, so I headed to the cashier (I try to limit myself to one book per trip to a bookstore, because I already have a stack of over a dozen books I have to read).

Two days later I started reading and three days after that I’d finished the memoir.  I don’t often finish books so quickly because I have lots of other things going on, but I found myself picking up the book every free minute I had.  Most mornings I usually watch EPSN, but for three days I opted to skip the latest sports news so I could continue with the amazing memoir.

I was truly fascinated by the author’s re-telling of his firing from one of the United States’ most prestigious advertising firms to taking a job as a Starbucks Partner (their name for employees) in Manhattan, suddenly finding himself in the minority.  Through the process, Gill learns what it means to truly live well and respect others.

If you’re at all interested in non-fiction, particularly memoirs, you should add this book to your wish list.  The book is an amazingly quick read and I have a feeling I’ll find myself going back to this book anytime I need a dose of reality.

The book is a fairly quick read (less than 200 pages) and turned out to be pretty decent.  As usual, I took several notes while reading; here are some of the things that stood out to me.

• Freedom and faith come when we accept Jesus into our hearts.
• Even when situations seem messed up, we must trust Jesus to know what is best.
• “Although” faith, not “if” faith, allows us to endure despite the situation (e.g. “Although I am sick, I have faith” not “If I get well, I’ll have faith”).
• Just because God doesn’t perform the miracles we want when we want them doesn’t mean He’s not actively involved in our life.
• If you love people with all of your heart, you’ll be loving Jesus; if you love Jesus with all of your heart, you’ll be loving people.
• We aren’t truly living until God pushes us outside of our comfort zones.

If you’re at all interested in Christian non-fiction, this book is worth a read.  In fact, you can pick up my copy on PaperBackSwap.

I’d heard about this book quite some time ago on the Simply Youth Ministry Podcast and it had been in my “To Purchase” queue for quite awhile. While at a recent youth ministry event I noticed that the book was available and on sale, so I picked it up along with a couple others.

Fields’ book was a quick read (I started it during my lunch hour last Wednesday and finished it later that evening) yet it was chock-full of practical advice. Following are some of the things I took away from the book:

• Busyness makes us look important but cripples our relationships. Busyness feeds our egos but ultimately starves our souls. Busyness fills our calendars but fractures our families. And busyness props up our images but shrinks our hearts. ⁽²¹⁾
• You need to learn to say no to many good things and wonderful people so you’ll have space to say yes to God, yes to the important people in your life, yes to priorities–yes to what matters most. ⁽²¹⁾
• Some warning signs to watch out for include constant clutter, addiction to speed (a fast-paced lifestyle, not the drug!), multitasking, superficiality, relationship fatigue, apathy and spiritual emptiness. ^(53-60)

I definitely recommend this book to those involved in ministry so they can learn how to say no before saying yes becomes damaging. This book is equally helpful, though, to those who are already over their heads in the sea of yeses and are looking for a life-saving device.

The book focuses on redefining how we think about praising God; instead of being an event, Crowder suggests that it should be a lifestyle. He spends much of the book using various Psalms as examples of how to develop a habit of praise in everyday life.

There was one paragraph in the book that really stood out to me as an example of how most people praise God:

Much of our energy as Christians-attempting-to-live-devoted-lives centers on the development of patterns or activities to strengthen or deepen our “spiritual” selves, things previously mentioned, such as corporate worship, or scholastic theological study, or quite times, or praying before meals. And we thank that if we pray before a meal, it will set this moment apart and other unbelieving peoples might observe our devoutness and we will make a statement that will surely cause them to stop in their tracks. Then leaving that brief holy event well behind, feeling our obligation to “otherness” consummated, we engross ourselves in the devouring of hamburgers and French fries. But it is in the moments that follow our prayers that we are able to follow the trail of our true affections, our hidden motivations. It is in the gluttonous idolatry or tearful gratefulness that we consume the burger. It is in our conversations over the meal–the valuing or devaluing of the ones with whom we find ourselves exchanging conversation It is found in the gratuity at the end of the meal. While somebody else is talking, I usually find myself busily plotting ways to divert the subject matter back to myself rather than lending heart and ear and thought to their discourse. ^{(p. 41)}

It’s a lengthy paragraph, but Crowder is spot on. How many times have I prayed before a meal because I thought I had to, and, thus, rushed through it so I could “check it off my list”? The fact that I repeat the same rote prayer and then dive into my meal shows that I, to use Crowder’s words, consume the burger in gluttonous idolatry. Shouldn’t I be eating it in tearful gratefulness? Sure, the tears sound a bit over the top, but isn’t that the more appropriate way to praise God for the good fortune of having something to eat?

I highly recommend this book to those who yearn to get out of the rut of praising God the same way every day of their lives.